| Name | Todd Carty |
|---|---|
| Caption | Carty in 2009 at Wendy Richard's funeral service |
| Birthdate | August 31, 1963 |
| Birthplace | North London, England |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Yearsactive | 1967–present |
| Partner | Dina Clarkin (1990–present) |
Todd Carty (born 31 August 1963) to Irish parents, is a British based actor and director, who has grown up on television screens in a variety of roles. His stage work has varied from pantomime to serious drama, as well as radio plays, voiceovers, commercials, narrations and films. He is best known for his roles as Tucker in Grange Hill, Mark Fowler in EastEnders and villainous policeman Gabriel Kent in The Bill.
He is a West Ham United supporter, the West Ham team appearing as guests on the This is Your Life tribute to Todd Carty in the year 2000. Todd follows the fortunes of the Republic of Ireland, along with the Ireland rugby team, and the Munster Rugby team. Carty has said Ireland is where I consider myself from and they realise how important it is to me and by extension to them.
It was reported on BBC World News on 16 February 2008 that Todd Carty had collapsed on stage while performing in The Business of Murder, at The Gordon Craig Theatre, Stevenage. Some newspapers claimed that Carty had suffered a heart attack, though his agent strenuously denied this on BBC News, claiming the collapse was caused by a middle ear infection, and that the actor had run out of medication. Carty confirmed this while being interviewed on ITV's Loose Women, shortly after the event.
In an exclusive interview in Hello magazine 17 March 2009, Todd Carty announced his intention to marry his life-time partner, actress, writer and film producer Dina Clarkin. Both Carty and Clarkin are featured in an exclusive interview and photo shoot in OK! magazine 24 March 2009, On 22 October 2010, Carty was in attendance at the funeral of fellow actor and comedian Sir Norman Wisdom
He made his first stage appearance at the New London Theatre, Drury Lane, as the young Lionel in Lionel Bart's autobiographical musical Lionel; however, his television career in his youth was mostly defined by his role as Tucker Jenkins in Phil Redmond's popular BBC drama, Grange Hill (1978–1982), and the subsequent spin off series, Tucker's Luck (1983–1985).
During the 1970s and 1980s, Carty also appeared in Z-Cars (1976), Our Mutual Friend, Drummer, and Headmaster, all for the BBC. And for German TV, Focus on Britain, and The Idle Bunch. His film work at the time included Professor Popper's Problems and Please Sir!. In 1983, he landed the role of Oswyn in the fantasy film Krull opposite Ken Marshall, Lysette Anthony, Liam Neeson, and Alun Armstrong, amongst others.
Carty joined The Bill as PC. Gabriel Kent, the evil police officer, which he played for more than two years from 2003 to 2005. Carty has since revealed that he broke his EastEnders contract a year earlier than planned to take on this new role.
After leaving EastEnders in 2003, Carty went on to play "villain evil copper", PC Gabriel Kent, in ITV's The Bill. After leaving The Bill in 2005, he returned to the big screen as the aristocrat Harvey Van Bollingbroke in the movie The Treasure of Albion. Carty acted in The School That Roared as the eccentric Mr. Haig, for which he was also second unit director.
He has guest-starred as Ray Hallam in the Christmas special of the TV series Heartbeat, and in BBC's Holby City, as villain Cameron Cooke. In 2008, he guest-starred in BBC's Doctors, playing the part of Kev Blake.
In 2003, Carty reprised the role of Tucker Jenkins in Grange Hill, as the uncle of one the pupils, Patrick "Togger" Johnson. He appeared in just this one episode, but he was brought back once again to film for Grange Hill's last ever series, broadcast in 2008 — a one-off special episode to celebrate the 30th birthday of the long-running BBC TV show. A movie of Grange Hill, which will star Todd Carty, has been announced, and is in the early stages of development. Carty appeared as Tucker in the last ever televised episode of Grange Hill, which was screened on Monday, 15 September 2008 on BBC1.
Carty was a guest on the BBC1 show I'd Do Anything, in May 2008, with Cameron Mackintosh, helping to choose one of the selected boys to play Oliver Twist, for the new West End production of Oliver!.
Carty and his eldest son, James, filmed together in a factual television series for Five, "Dangerous Adventures For Boys", based on the book written by Conn and Hal Iggulden, The Dangerous Book for Boys. James Carty aged 11, became the youngest person to have ever driven a steam train across the North York Moors 18 mile line from Grosmont, North Yorkshire to Pickering, built in the 1830s. Carty and his son James were guests on a comedy sketch of the series on the Harry Hill TV Burp show on ITV1.
Carty and Susie Lipanova danced their week three routine to the song "Help!" from The Beatles. During the routine in week three, Carty lost control on the ice so badly that he ended up stumbling into the off-stage area, disappearing from public view, leaving Lipanova to complete the routine alone. Despite this, the public vote carried the couple through to the next round. Carty's public support has seen him compared to Strictly Come Dancing contestants Christopher Parker, John Sergeant and Ann Widdecombe, who were carried through several rounds of the reality contest despite much criticism from the judging panel about their dancing abilities.
Phillip Schofield told Carty at the end of his routine, "You have given me my most favourite moment ever on Dancing On Ice". Schofield then said the Tucker Jenkins catchphrase to Todd, "Flippin Eck Tucker". Tony Gubba, the shows commentator said, on the Carty performance. "Hilarious, I completely lost it. I've never lost it in 40 years of television. In all honesty, this programme is television Heaven, such fun. Because you never know what will happen". Carty was described by Richard Arnold on GMTV, as "hilarious, stumbling off the rink completely like Norman Wisdom". Todd Carty had over a million and a half hits on YouTube for his spectacular and hilarious stumble off the ice rink set of Dancing On Ice.
In the following episode of Harry Hill's TV Burp, Hill mocked Carty for this skate-off, creating a sequence starting after Carty had left the ice in which a lookalike actor skated around the building and over obstacles such as a trampoline before cutting back to the real footage of Carty completing his routine. In week five, the couple performed a routine that Carty described as 'romantic'. Their chosen music was the Nat King Cole version of "Smile". Carty claimed that Lipanova would still not allow him to lift her during their routine. The couple scored 8.5 for their performance, and were eliminated from the show after a skate-off with Ellery Hanley and his partner Frankie Poultney.
In an interview on This Morning on 9 February, Carty stated that he will take part in Dancing On Ice The Tour 2009. On 22 March 2009, during the final where all the eliminated skating stars returned, Carty re-acted his famous accidental stumble off the ice.
Todd also starred in Kyran Bracken's Ice Party in Blackpool from 23 to 31 October 2009.
Todd Carty and Wendy Richard (who famously played his screen mother Pauline in EastEnders) presented "50 Greatest Families" on Sky One in March 2008. Todd and Dina Clarkin were guests at the wedding of Wendy Richard, then terminally ill and John Burns on Friday, 10 October 2008.
Todd Carty will star as Patsy in the Monty Python touring production of Spamalot from May to November 2010.
Category:English film actors Category:English soap opera actors Category:English stage actors Category:English television actors Category:English people of Irish descent Category:Living people Category:People from Harrow Category:People from Kilburn Category:1963 births Category:Dancing on Ice participants
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| Title | Susie Lipanova |
|---|---|
| Country | |
| Dateofbirth | June 06, 1974 |
| Partner | Andrei Lipanov |
| Spouse | Andrei Lipanov Married |
Susie Lipanova (née Susan Humble) on 6 June 1974, is a British ice skater from South Shields, South Tyneside, England.
From 1992 to 1998, Lipanova was a member of the British Olympic Squad. As a professional show skater she has toured Europe. Her UK shows include Hot Ice at Blackpool Pleasure Beach Arena, of which the Lancashire Evening Telegraph in 2002 commented: " ... with a few exciting additions including the haunting Montmartre led by the stunning Susie Lipanova."
Category:1978 births Category:Living people Category:Dancing on Ice participants
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| Name | Zoe Salmon |
|---|---|
| Birth date | January 07, 1980 |
| Birth place | Bangor, Northern Ireland, UK |
| Occupation | Television presenter |
| Known for | Blue Peter presenter and Miss Northern Ireland of 1999 |
| Nationality | British |
| Height | 5 ft 7 inches |
Shortly after her debut, she famously said "I'd Try Anything Once", which started a trend in her being asked to do dangerous or embarrassing things including wing-walking on top of an antique biplane and stamp collecting. When she mentioned in her blog on the Blue Peter website that she had an ambition to be sawed in half by a magician, viewers started a campaign for her to do a challenge where she would become a magician's assistant. This campaign was successful, and Salmon filmed a challenge where she assisted a magician with a number of illusions including levitation and a transposition illusion called "The Assistants Revenge". After the filmed segment of the challenge had been shown, the magician joined Salmon in the studio for a live performance of the sawing in half illusion, in which Salmon was sawed in half inside a clear-sided box in a version of the illusion called "Clearly Impossible". Salmon left the show in June 2008 at the start of the Summer break, at the same time as Gethin Jones.
Salmon herself faced criticism when she chose a symbol for a 'Best of British' logo, to be used by British Airways to decorate a Boeing 757. She said 'I'm from Ulster, and I'd like to cover a plane with the Red Hand of Ulster: that is our proud symbol.' The symbol is frequently used by loyalists and paramilitaries: David Miller, a professor of sociology at Strathclyde University, was among the first to complain to the BBC about the use of the symbol.
Miller said: "Like the swastika, the Red Hand is a symbol that has been misappropriated. It is the symbol of the unionists and is certainly not signed up to by the majority." Michael Copeland, an Ulster Unionist Party assembly member, said that the 'Red Hand symbol is as precious to all Ulstermen as the lion is to Scotland, and the dragon to Wales'; 'it appears in the symbolism of both the unionist and nationalist communities.' The red hand of Ulster is also used by Republicans and nationalists and is emblazoned on the nine-county flag for the province of Ulster, as well as the old Northern Ireland flag, and by the GAA (including the Tyrone GAA's crest). The symbol is also associated with Ulster Gaelic clans before the 17th century. The Red Hand of Ulster (in Irish Lámh Dhearg Uladh) is a symbol used in heraldry to denote the Irish province of Ulster.
Other media reports at the time "suggested she had been chosen to 'sex up' the programme and boost ratings in the competitive children’s marketplace. It is an idea denied by the producers of Blue Peter." Richard Marson, Blue Peter’s editor, characterised the article as 'character assassination', and denied that the show was "being sexed up or dumbed down".
In 2005, Salmon presented the results of the Northern Ireland region in Making Your Mind Up, the UK's national pre-selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2005. She welcomed the television audience to Belfast with the line "How's about you, Terry?"
Salmon appeared in the 2007 version of Comic Relief Does Fame Academy, with several celebrity opponents, including BBC Sport presenter and journalist Ray Stubbs, former CBBC presenter Angellica Bell and BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 5 Live presenter Colin Murray. Salmon was the fifth celebrity voted out. Also in 2007, she switched on the Belfast Christmas lights with Shayne Ward.
After leaving Blue Peter in June 2008, she presented the gameshow Hot Rods which began a BBC2 run on 30 August. She joined Noel Edmonds and Same Difference as a guest at a kids' party at the Northumberland town of Morpeth which featured in 2008's Noel's Christmas Presents show on Sky1.
Salmon took part in the fourth series of Dancing On Ice, partnering Matt Evers and reached the quarter-finals.
Zoe appeared on The Chris Moyles Show in January 2009 and went on a date with early breakfast presenter Greg James as part of the BBC Radio 1 money experiment
She appeared on the first episode of BBC One Saturday night gameshow Hole in the Wall hosted by Dale Winton. Salmon has a cameo in the CBBC sitcom Dani's House, in which she plays a celebrity. In May 2009 she appeared in FHM magazine with another Blue Peter ex-presenter Konnie Huq. Two separate collectable covers were printed for the issue featuring the two women, but the content of the magazines were identical.
In 2009 she appeared on Shooting Stars on Jack Dee's team, alongside comedian Noel Fielding.
In 2009 she presented 8-part series Skillicious on CITV alongside Nigel Clarke. The show encouraged children to try out new skills. She loved beatboxing. She presented the World's Strongest Man competition in the UK and became one of the presenters on new Sky1 live lifestyle chat show Angela and Friends.
Category:1980 births Category:Living people Category:Alumni of Queen's University Belfast Category:Blue Peter presenters Category:Dancing on Ice participants Category:Fame Academy participants Category:Miss Northern Ireland winners Category:People from Bangor, County Down Category:Solicitors from Northern Ireland Category:Television presenters from Northern Ireland
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A month’s cold spell in early 1855 saw Turkey Smart winning 13 matches at Outwell, Salter’s Lode, Welney, Benwick, Mepal, March, Deeping, Ely, Peterborough and Wisbech in front of crowds of thousands. Each match consisted of four rounds skated in pairs over a 2 mile course, with the winner and runner-up skating a total of 8 miles in a day. His prize money for that month's skating came to £58 15s and a leg of mutton – the equivalent of about 2 years’ average earnings for an agricultural worker.
Turkey Smart continued his winning streak until 1861, when, hampered by a scythe injury to his leg, he shared the title with his brother-in-law and main rival on ice William "Gutta Percha" See. There followed a series of mild winters and when the championship was next held in 1867 Turkey Smart and Gutta Percha See were outpaced by younger men.
Undeterred by defeat and a leg injury, Turkey Smart continued to skate competitively into his fifties. An editorial in the Times, written 26 years after Turkey Smart’s death and looking back to the golden age of Fen skating in the last decades of the nineteenth century, described him as "a glorious has-been".
At one match in Mepal in 1878 Turkey Smart and Gutta Percha See (aged 48 and 45 respectively) both won their first rounds. In the second round they were drawn against each other and Gutta Percha See won in a close finish, only to be beaten by his 16-year-old son George "Young Gutty" See in the semi-final. Young Gutty See then lost to his cousin George "Flying Fish" Smart in the final.
Although he usually lost in the early rounds of matches, Turkey Smart was still a force to be reckoned with. In January 1879 he got through three rounds of a match at Littleport, defeating nephew Jarman Smart along the way, only to lose in the semi-final to nephew Young Gutty See. The following day he was beaten by nephew Fish Smart in the second round of a match at Ely. Three days later he was a second-round loser at Swavesey having easily beaten one of Lancashire's best skaters in the first round. Later that year the first British professional championship was held under the auspices of the recently set up National Skating Association. Turkey Smart lost in the first round, but received an ovation from the crowd.
In 1881 Turkey Smart skated in a 1 mile race at Edgbaston Pool, Birmingham, and although coming in behind his fellow fenmen, managed to beat the best of Birmingham by 250 yards.
In his sixties, Turkey Smart was still taking to the ice for exhibition races.
Fish Smart won three consecutive British professional championships in 1879, 1881 and 1887. His brother James was British professional champion in 1889, 1890 and 1895 and also took the title of world professional champion in Holland in 1895. George See was British champion in 1892.
Turkey Smart and his wife both died in 1919. They lost five grandsons in World War I.
E Porter 1969 Fenland skating. Cambridgeshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough Life, February issue.
J Slater and A Bunch 2000 Fen speed skating: an illustrated history. March.
HA Winter 1994 The Welney division: a history of the Smart family, speed skating champions in the golden age of Fen skating. Wisbech.
Category:British speed skaters Category:People from King's Lynn and West Norfolk (district) Category:1830 births Category:1919 deaths
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| Name | Ray Quinn |
|---|---|
| Background | solo_singer |
| Birth name | Raymond Arthur Quinn Jr |
| Born | August 25, 1988 |
| Origin | Childwall, Liverpool, England |
| Instruments | Singing |
| Genre | Vocal jazz, Pop, Swing. |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, Actor, Student |
| Years active | 2000–present |
| Label | Sony BMG (2006–2007) |
| Url |
Quinn went on to study Performing Arts at Merseyside Dance and Drama College for a three-year course where he completed two years before joining the X Factor finals.
Quinn was in the 16–24s category which was mentored by Simon Cowell. As the category's mentor, Cowell chose which contestants made it to the live rounds of the show. Initially, Quinn did not make Cowell's selection of seven contestants for the later stages of the competition, but Cowell subsequently “felt he had made a mistake”. It was then decided that the seven should be expanded to eight, and Quinn was called back. Quinn went on to be chosen as one of Cowell's final four contestants who would appear in the live rounds of the competition.
Many of Quinn's X Factor performances had an old-fashioned feel, and in the earlier stages of the competition he was criticised by judge Louis Walsh for repeatedly performing swing-style numbers. Judge Sharon Osbourne once referred to him as "panto boy" and the judges generally queried his ability as a pure singer as opposed to a "song-and-dance man".
For the first four weeks of the series Quinn survived in the contest without being in the bottom two sing-off. In week five, however, Quinn, along with Nikitta Angus, polled the fewest votes from the public. Walsh voted for Quinn to leave the competition, but Cowell and Osbourne voted in Quinn's favour, keeping him in the contest. Quinn then survived the next four weeks, eventually narrowly finishing as runner-up to Leona Lewis.
Following the conclusion of the show, Quinn participated in The X Factor UK and Ireland Tour with the other finalists from the third series. This took place in February and March 2007.
Quinn was associated with fellow third-series finalists Eton Road prior to the auditions.
Quinn embarked on his own solo tour in September through to November 2007.
Quinn was subsequently dropped by his record label, on 6 November 2007.
In November 2007, Quinn recorded a cover of the song "You To Me Are Everything" for the album Liverpool: Number Ones Album and in January 2008, he performed at the Number One Project concert at the Echo Arena, Liverpool.
In every week (excluding week two, which featured the girls only) on Dancing On Ice, he topped the leaderboard. In his sixth week he scored the maximum 30. Quinn was announced winner of Dancing on Ice 2009 after receiving a perfect score of 60/60. He joined the other contestants and toured the country on the Dancing On Ice Tour.
On Sunday 21 June 2009 Quinn took part in an edition of All Star Family Fortunes which was broadcast on ITV1 in the Autumn of 2009. He appeared on the first programme of the 2010 edition of Dancing on Ice as current Champion and also performed a skating routine with his former skating partner from the show.
2004
2008 Grease, dancer, actor and singer (Doody) – Piccadilly Theatre, London
Aladdin, Aladdin – Broadway Theatre, Peterborough
2009
2010 Dirty Dancing, Billy Kosteki
Category:1988 births Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:Living people Category:Vocal jazz musicians Category:English television actors Category:English child actors Category:English male singers Category:The X Factor (UK) contestants Category:Sony BMG artists Category:Reality television judges Category:Dancing on Ice participants Category:Reality show winners Category:Actors from Liverpool Category:Musicians from Liverpool
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| Name | Michelle Collins |
|---|---|
| Birthdate | May 28, 1961 |
| Birth place | Hackney, East London, England |
| Notable role | Cindy Beale in EastEnders Nicki Matthews in Sunburn Abby Wallace in Two Thousand Acres of Sky |
Collins trained at the Royal Court Activists and Cockpit Youth Theatre from the age of fourteen, and then Kingsway Princeton College where she studied drama and theatre at O/A level.
Collins's first TV appearance was with Gary Oldman in the BBC drama Morgan's Boy. Other TV credits included: two series of the sitcom Running Wild, where she played Ray Brooks daughter; a part in ITV drama The Bill; a Screen Two production Lucky Sunil, directed by Michael Caton Jones and a BBC play Pressures. She later appeared in three films: Personal Services, Empire State and Poliakov’s Hidden City. Collins appeared in an episode of the BBC's Bergerac (series 4) in 1985.
In 2003 Collins filmed the BBC drama Sea of Souls and then went on to star in a film for Granada/Channel 4 called The Illustrated Mum, which told the story of two girls coping with the unpredictable behaviour of their depressed, alcoholic mother. The film, written by Jacqueline Wilson, was based on the children’s novel of the same name. It was screened to great acclaim over Christmas 2003 and won an Emmy Award and two BAFTAs.
In 2004 she starred in an episode of the British comic sketch show French and Saunders and also starred alongside fellow EastEnders actor Martin Kemp in the ITV drama Can't Buy Me Love, which was watched by nearly 8 million viewers. The programme was inspired by the real-life story of Howard Walmsley, who was jailed for fraud after pretending to win the lottery in order to keep his wife Donna (played by Collins) from leaving him. Their lives and marriage were subsequently turned upside down by the events that unfolded.
In 2005, Collins starred in the ITV drama The Last Detective and she starred in the BBC drama The Family Man, alongside ex-EastEnder Daniela Denby-Ashe, which aired in March 2006.
She starred in the West End musical Daddy Cool, and while working during the night there shot sequences for a cameo in the short film Broken written and directed by Vicki Psarias, which went on to win the several international awards. She also featured in the film Don't Stop Dreaming, released in 2007. She left Daddy Cool in January 2007 to shoot the Doctor Who episode "42".
On 2 July 2007, it was announced that Collins has been cast for the lead role of Karina Faith in new ITV drama series, Rock Rivals, produced by Shed Productions.
On 21 May 2009, it was rumoured that Michelle had auditioned to star in hit US drama Desperate Housewives, but she will not join the cast for its sixth series.
In July 2009, Collins expressed interest in returning to EastEnders, despite the fact her character Cindy, died off screen in 1998. She acknowledged it would be unlikely that producers could come up with a believable storyline.
In 2010 she was a celebrity guest team captain on What Do Kids Know? along with Rufus Hound, Joe Swash and Sara Cox on Watch. In June 2010, it was announced that Collins would be making a six-episode guest appearance as a patient's mother in the BBC One drama Casualty.
In July 2010 Michelle was a guest panellist twice on ITVs Flagship show Loose Women.
Collins's complex love life includes dating cameraman Mark Waters, whom she met while filming the BBC travel rep drama Sunburn, for two years. Collins and her Welsh boyfriend Parry Cockwell called off their wedding in February 2005, saying things were moving too fast, before splitting in October 2005.
Her friends include singer Paul Young and his wife Stacey, and chef Aldo Zilli. She owns a pet Samoyed called Jingle.
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Matthew Kelly (born David Allan Kelly, 9 May 1950, Urmston, Lancashire, England) is an award-winning English actor, who first made his name as a television presenter.
After 1961, Kelly went to Urmston Grammar School. His first job after leaving school was as a bingo caller. He trained as an actor at The Manchester Metropolitan School of Theatre (Formerly Manchester Polytechnic) and joined in a theatre group which included Julie Walters and Pete Postlethwaite. After graduation, he made his professional debut at the Pavilion Theatre in Rhyl. After this debut he appeared regularly at Liverpool's Everyman Theatre. He is a former member of the Workers' Revolutionary Party.
On 15 January 2003, Kelly was arrested by Surrey Police over allegations that he sexually abused teenage boys. No charges were brought, and he was cleared a month later, but this caused him to be suspended by ITV until he was cleared, at which point he was offered the chance to return to Stars in their Eyes. However, Kelly refused, dismayed by ITV's apparent dis-loyalty to him when he had given them so much loyalty over the years. So, he used this opportunity to declare that he would leave light entertainment behind and be returning to acting full time. To this end he has appeared in a number of television and theatre productions. In 2005 he was a member of the cast in BBC One's Bleak House as Mr. Turveydrop. He also played a serial killer in 2005's Cold Blood and its 2007 sequel, as well as the explorer Giovanni Belzoni in BBC One's Egypt.
On the stage he won an Olivier Award in 2003 for his portrayal of Lenny in John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men at the Savoy Theatre. Other work includes Ripafratta in Mirandolina at the Royal Exchange Theatre in August 2006 which he swiftly followed by appearing as a well-received Antonio Salieri in Peter Shaffer's play Amadeus.
From December 2008 to January 2009, he joined Stefanie Powers, Craig McLachlan and Christopher Biggins at the Mayflower Theatre in Southampton to play May, one of the Ugly sisters, in the pantomime Cinderella alongside his son Matthew Rixon.
In 2009 he was on stage to high critical acclaim, in Howard Barker's Victory: Choices in Reaction, at the Arcola Theatre, then as George in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf at the Lichfield Garrick Theatre, followed by a season at London's Trafalgar Studios. The summer was spent as Pandarus in Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida at The Globe in London. He opened in Comedians at the Hammersmith Lyric in October 2009.
In January 2010 he replaced Simon Callow as Pozzo in the revival of Waiting for Godot at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, alongside Ian McKellen (Estragon), Roger Rees (Vladimir) and Ronald Pickup (Lucky). He continued in the successful production of Waiting for Godot at the Comedy Theatre, Melbourne in May 2010.
On 4 November 2010, Kelly received an honourary doctorate from the University of Chester.
Category:Alumni of the Open University Category:English game show hosts Category:English stage actors Category:English television actors Category:English television presenters Category:Trotskyists Category:Olivier Award winners Category:People from Urmston Category:Workers' Revolutionary Party (UK) members Category:1950 births Category:Living people
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| Name | Jodie Prenger |
|---|---|
| Birthname | Jodie Prenger |
| Birthdate | June 12, 1979 |
| Birthplace | Blackpool, Lancashire, England |
| Occupation | actress, singer |
| Yearsactive | 2006–present |
Jodie Prenger (born 12 June 1979 in Blackpool, Lancashire) is an English actress and singer. She was the winner of BBC talent show-themed television series I'd Do Anything on 31 May 2008. She was also the winner of the second series of The Biggest Loser on Living in 2006. As of 2009 she is a panelist on daytime show Loose Women.
Her first appearance on television came in 1999 when she appeared on A Taste for Travel on Granada Television alongside her mother. In 2000 she took part in the Dale Winton show The Other Half on BBC1 in which she had to pretend to be the wife of boxer, Chris Eubank. Later that year she played the role of the good witch Hurricane in a non-skating role in Halloween Spectacular On Ice at Alton Towers in Staffordshire. In 2001 she spent eight months as one of four principals in a team of 19 entertainers aboard the Disney Wonder cruise ship. She won £25,000 for winning the series. In 2006 Jodie Prenger was also featured on Charlotte Coyle's Fat Beauty Contest on channel 4, where Coyle searched for plus sized models for a beauty pageant.
On 10 March 2009 Prenger appeared on The Paul O'Grady Show and spoke about her time on The Biggest Loser. On seeing a picture of herself after initially losing weight, she said that she believed she lost too much weight and became too thin at that time. She also commented that she believed all women should have curves, which she had also stated in a Daily Mail article on 16 February. from where she was eventually chosen as one of the twelve finalists to perform in the live shows each week.
After her performance of "Chasing Pavements" in the first live show of the series, Prenger was installed as the joint favourite to win. Panelist John Barrowman said, "I love you to death, you connected with everyone and told the story – that's making a good Nancy!" Denise Van Outen said "Nancy needs to have a lot of life experience and I see that coming through in your performance. It was absolutely brilliant". Barry Humphries who had played Fagin in the original Lionel Bart stage production, said "You've got that toughness and also a tenderness. A beautiful performance and a fine actress." And head judge Andrew Lloyd Webber said that Jodie could "absolutely play this role."
In Week five Barry Humphries said that Prenger was "destined for the West End", and in Week Eight John Barrowman labelled Prenger his "perfect Nancy".
In the week leading up to the final in week ten, the Nancy finalists posed for publicity pictures recreating some of Madonna's iconic images. Prenger posed in a wedding dress to recreate the cover of the album Like a Virgin. She was also installed as the favourite to win the show. On 30 May, Andrew Lloyd Webber revealed that Theatrical producer Cameron Mackintosh, who will be producing the show in the West End, and who joined the panel in week nine, was concerned about her curvaceous figure saying, "Cameron thinks she is a bit too big and has more or less said so". However, Webber defended Prenger, saying that she had both the vocal talents and personality for the role, saying "Jodie could be anybody's idea of Nancy - I can see it absolutely. She has got a lovely voice and a super personality. She has experience as well."
In the Final on 31 May Prenger performed a total number of seven songs including her performance of "As Long as He Needs Me" after she was announced as winner. She also performed "I'd Do Anything" with all the Nancy and Oliver finalists; "Son of a Preacher Man"; "Getting To Know You" from the musical The King and I with Laurence ; "Maybe This Time" from the film Cabaret with Jessie Buckley and Samantha Barks as well as also singing "As Long as he Needs Me" and "I Have Nothing" from A Star Is Born before the final vote.
Cameron Mackintosh said about her performance of "Son of a Preacher Man", "Jodie has convinced me that she could make a Nancy. You absolutely deserve to be in the final." John Barrowman said, "every song she sings, you believe the words. I look forward to the day I can guest star with you on the West End stage!" and Andrew Lloyd Webber said, "that was a very, very, very good performance. You have an outsize talent, and a very strong voice. I just don't know if it's going to be quite enough tonight, but it might be."
In the second part of the live final, Prenger performed her favourite song from the series, "I Have Nothing", and Nancy's tragic love ballad, "As Long As He Needs Me". After she was announced as the winner, Prenger said, "You have genuinely given me my dream, I can't actually put into words how I feel. I'm so grateful and so chuffed. I'm just Jodie from Blackpool and to be here is my dream." Andrew Lloyd Webber said, "The people's Nancy. Jodie was always going to be the people's choice," adding " I think people love her, they love her open personality. I think they relate to that personality and I think that's what makes her Nancy for the public. Her strengths are her personality and her very, very strong voice." And Cameron Mackintosh said, "I'm thrilled for Jodie, congratulations!" adding, "She is obviously the public's view of what they want to see as Nancy. She'll give a terrific performance and I really look forward to putting her into training and getting her into rehearsals."
Prenger revealed on The Graham Norton Show a week later; that when her name was called out as the winner, she urinated slightly and had to perform "As Long as He Needs Me" with wet underwear.
After winning I'd Do Anything, Prenger was given a civic reception in her hometown of Blackpool on 7 June 2008, with a specially erected stage in front of the town hall where she performed several songs from Oliver!. On 24 August 2008 she performed in a "Music Under the Stars" event at the annual Faenol Festival held near Y Felinheli in Gwynedd, North Wales.
On 23 February 2009 Prenger released her autobiography, Its a Fine Life.
Prenger reprised the role of Nancy once more, for two one-off performances on November 13, 2010, whilst Ellis was absent.
Category:People from Blackpool Category:1979 births Category:Living people Category:English stage actors Category:Reality show winners Category:Participants in British reality television series
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| Name | Benny Hill |
|---|---|
| Caption | Benny Hill |
| Birth name | Alfred Hawthorne Hill |
| Birth date | January 21, 1924 |
| Birth place | Southampton, Hampshire, England |
| Death date | April 20, 1992 |
| Death place | Teddington, Middlesex, England |
| Occupation | Actor, singer & comedian |
| Years active | 1940–1992 |
Benny Hill (21 January 1924 – 20 April 1992) was an English actor and comedian, notable for his long-running television programme The Benny Hill Show.
The most common running gag in Benny Hill's shows was the closing sequence, The 'run-off', which was literally a "running gag" in that it featured various members of the cast chasing Hill and usually featured scantily-clad women as part of the chase, along with other stock comedy characters, such as policemen, vicars, old ladies, and so on. This was commonly filmed using stop motion and time-lapse techniques for comic effect, and included other comic devices such as characters running off one side of the screen and reappearing running on from the other. The tune used in all the chases, "Yakety Sax", is commonly referred to as "The Benny Hill Theme". It has been used as a form of parody in many ways by television shows and a small number of films. The Wachowskis used the same style (and musical theme) in a scene in the film V for Vendetta (2006). It also appears in the cult movie The Gods Must Be Crazy.
Towards the start of the eighties the show featured a troupe of attractive young women, known collectively as 'Hills Angels' . They would appear either on their own in a dance sequence, or in character as foils against Hill. Sue Upton, one of the longest serving members of the Angels, said of Hill, "He was one of the nicest, kindest, most gentle of men to work with". But the sexual content of the routines contributed in the 1980s to feminist accusations of sexism.Reflecting such changing currents of opinions, the 1980s alternative comedian Ben Elton denounced Hill as a "dirty old man, tearing the clothes off nubile girls". But a writer in The Independent newspaper opined that Elton's assault was "like watching an elderly uncle being kicked to death by young thugs". Elton later claimed his comment was taken out of context, and he appeared in an affectionate parody for Harry Enfield and Chums, The Benny Elton Show, where Elton ends up being chased by angry women, accompanied by the Yakety Sax theme, after trying to force them to be more feminist rather than letting them make their own decisions.
In response to the accusations of sexism, defenders of Hill have said the show used traditional comic stereotypes to reflect universal human truths in a way that was unmalicious and fundamentally harmless. Hill's close friend and producer Dennis Kirkland said it was the women who chased Hill in anger for undressing them, all of which was done accidentally by some ridiculous means. An article on 27 May 2006 in The Independent quoted Hill and Dennis Kirkland as saying they believed this misrepresentation demonstrated critics could not have watched his programmes.
In a documentary on Benny Hill, John Howard Davies, the former head of entertainment at Thames Television who had canceled the show, stated there were three reasons why he did so: "...the audiences were going down, the programme was costing a vast amount of money, and he (Hill) was looking tired." The loss of his show totally devastated Hill (or, as one former supporting player put it, "He started to die from there"), and what followed was a self-inflicted decline in his health. in 1990 a new show was produced complete with Hill and his usual team, called Benny Hill's World Tour. In February 1992 Thames Television, which received a steady stream of requests from viewers for 'The Benny Hill Show' repeats, finally gave in and put together a number of re-edited shows. They tore straight into the top twenty. Hill died on 20 April 1992, the same day that a new contract arrived in the post from Central Independent Television, for which he was to have started making a series of specials. Hill turned down competing offers from Carlton and Thames.
Radio and TV show host Adam Carolla claimed that he was a fan of Benny Hill and that he considered Hill "as American as the Beatles." Indeed, during an episode of The Man Show, Carolla performed in what was billed as a tribute to "our favourite Englishman, Sir Benny Hill" in a more risqué takeoff of the sketches that Hill popularised. (Note: Hill was never knighted.) Carolla played a rude and lecherous waiter; a role Hill essayed numerous times in his shows—and the sketch featured many of the staples of Hill's shows, including a Jackie Wright-esque bald man, as well as the usual scantily-clad women.
Michael Jackson was a big Benny Hill fan: "I just love your Benny Hill!" the young Jackson told a bemused English music-press critic during a 1970s tour. "He's so funny!". During Benny Hill's decline in health he was visited by Michael Jackson who was in the UK at the time.
In Benny Hill: The World's Favourite Clown, filmed shortly before his death, celebrities such as Burt Reynolds, Michael Caine, John Mortimer, Mickey Rooney, and Walter Cronkite, among others, expressed their appreciation of and admiration for Hill and his humour (and in Reynolds' case, the appreciation extended to the "Hill's Angels" as well). More surprisingly, perhaps, the cerebral novelist Anthony Burgess made no secret of his admiration for Hill. Burgess, whose novels were often comic, relished language, wordplay and dialect, admired the verbal and comedic skill that underlay Hill's success. Reviewing a biography of Hill, Saucy Boy, in the Guardian in 1990, Burgess described Hill as "a comic genius steeped in the British music-hall tradition" and "one of the great artists of our age". A meeting between the two men was described in a newspaper article by Burgess and recalled in the Telegraph newspaper by the satirist Craig Brown.
In 2006, broadcaster and critic Garry Bushell launched a campaign to erect a statue of Hill in Southampton, with the support of Barbara Windsor, Brian Conley and other British comedy favourites. Those taking part in the first fundraising concert included Neville Staple, Right Said Fred and Rick Wakeman.
Hill was buried at Hollybrook Cemetery near his birthplace in Southampton on 26 April 1992. In October 1992, following rumours that he was buried with large amounts of gold jewellery, an attempt was made by thieves to exhume his body. However, when authorities looked into his open coffin the following morning, there was no treasure. Consequently, it is not generally known whether anything valuable was inside. Hill was reburied with a new coffin lid and a solid slab across the top of the grave.
Hill's fortune was estimated at £200 million. His only will, however, dated from 1961 and left his entire estate to his parents, both of whom had since died. Next in line were his brother Leonard and sister Diana, both of whom were also dead. This left his seven nieces and nephews, among whom the money was divided. Allegedly a note was found among his belongings assigning huge sums of money to his close friends and £60 million to his long time maid, it was signed, but because there was no witness the note had no legal standing.
In 1998 Channel 4 featured Hill in one of its "Heroes Of Comedy" programmes.
On 28 December 2006, Channel 4 broadcast the documentary Is Benny Hill Still Funny?. The programme featured an audience that comprised a cross-section of young adults who had little or no knowledge of Hill's comedy style, to discover whether or not the alternative comedians' criticism of Hill was valid to a generation that enjoyed the likes of Little Britain, The Catherine Tate Show and Borat. The participants were asked to watch a 30-minute compilation that included examples of Hill's humour from both his BBC and ITV shows. The responses and results demonstrated that none of the sample of viewers took offence at any of the sketches shown.
Hill's silent "Wishing Well" sketch was discovered to be the most popular. The alternative comedian Ben Elton, who had criticised Hill for sexism, was interviewed in the programme. Elton said he still had reservations about certain aspects of Hill's sketches, but claimed to be an admirer of Hill's talent and abilities as a comic performer.
On January 1st, 2011, "Antenna TV" was launched on digital channels in the United States which re-runs the Benny Hill Show along with other older sit-coms and movies. The schedule for Antenna TV can be found at http://antennatv.tv which shows at what times the Benny Hill show is aired.
Category:English comedians Category:English film actors Category:English comedy musicians Category:People from Southampton Category:1924 births Category:1992 deaths Category:Alumni of Bournemouth School Category:Pye Records artists
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